Monday, November 9, 2009

Exoplanet

This planet picture is part of yet another 1986 astronomical series. I think it was originally meant to portray Jupiter, yet I titled it "Shepherdess and Moons," from the idea of "shepherd moons" orbiting large planets with lots of gravel and smaller moonlets around them. In those days the idea of stars around other planets was just speculation, though many astronomers knew they had to exist. The first detection of a true exoplanet (a planet orbiting another star than the Sun) was in 1995. I think this is an exoplanet.

I tried some non-airbrush texturing in this piece. After I laid down the basic colors with the airbrush, I went back over it with brushwork and semi-transparent layers of acrylic. Then I used a sponge and a paper towel with paint on it to add texture. I painted the planet and its moons and its gravel ring (seen edge-on here) last.